Gordon Hayward leaves NBA bubble to rehab ankle
Boston Celtics wing Gordon Hayward has been haunted by injuries since announcing his arrival to Boston. Now with the Celtics gearing up to face off against the Toronto Raptors in round two of the NBA playoffs, the Celtics will have to continue to play without Gordon in the lineup. Diagnosed with a grade 3 right ankle sprain and reported yesterday by Cs Twitter, he has left the Orlando bubble to seek treatment. Gordon’s injury will have him out of the Cs rotation for at least three to three and a half weeks, and that’s if the recovery process goes perfectly! The Celtics took care of business without Gordon playing since game one of their series.
With all due respect to Philadelphia, they are not the quality of a team as the defending champions, Toronto Raptors. Not only did Toronto also sweep the opposing team in their series(Brooklyn Nets) they closed the series out in game 4 shooting a remarkable 55% from the field and 47% from three, most teams would kill to shoot 47% from the field, never mind the three point line! Not only are the Raptors a great defensive team, they take car of the ball, only averaging 10.75 TO per game. In Gordon’s absence the Celtics inconsistent bench needs to step up and collectively match what Gordon brings to the Cs, 18.7 ppg, and 7.7 rebounds in his seven seeding games. Not only will the Celtics bench look to really shoulder much of the loss to Gordon collectively, they won’t be able to match his intangibles, feel for the game and veteran savvy. Brad Stevens was asked for an update on Gordon and this is what he had to say on CBS Boston, “the plan of attack, from what I’ve been told, is when he’s closing in on being ready to play, he’ll be back,” Stevens said Sunday. The Cs won’t have Hayward back for this series but look for them in stretches to really struggle with him not available.
Here are Gordon’s highlights from game one vs Philadelphia with time stamps of some plays Celtics will miss, while he remains out:
30 second and 1:23 mark, two steals using his veteran knowledge and anticipation.
1:36 Gordon draws multiple defenders giving Cs offensive rebound opportunity
2:16 Spot up three, making the defense respect it and not help off of him
2:51 a veteran screen play which results in a wide open mid range
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